A bit wide.

I've got a six month old Weather Warrior in 223, at the range with a cold, clean barrel the first couple of shots for the day cluster about an inch off zero at 100 yards, then behave themselves.
This seems to follow true with most of my experience with rifles, when hunting I usually put one into the ground before setting off, just to clear her throat.
All my previous rifles have been old(er), one of my 303's was WW1 issue and I thought nothing of having to do this, but the 223 is new and I'm wondering if this is normal.
I'm spending a lot more time at the range these days and am taking more note of accuracy than I used to.

yes its normal to have a few fliers out of a cold CLEAN barrel.

Ditto what LongRange says - a clean barrel will shoot to a different point of aim until the leftover oils are burnt out of the barrel.

An undisturbed bore will shoot the same point of aim, cold bore or otherwise.

You might also check that the barrel and tang are properly floated. If it behaves well after the first few shots it sounds like your action screw torque is ok but never hurts to check.

If you are interested in additional info regarding cold bore shots, the following vid is very useful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewPWplWu6ZQ

There is considerable discussion on the different shooting forums about the use of colloidal graphite, i.e. Lock-Ease. Most of the discussion is around barrel break-in. However I have found that a saturated patch down the barrel after cleaning has settled down my clean bore shot. Lock-Ease's carrier will evaporate leaving only the graphite.

Bob

I have been using Montana X-Treme Bore Conditioner it helps with cold clean bore shots

Thanks for the help folks,

I've added a new hunting style to my list, being, longer range open country with my now newish 223 Weather Warrior.
Previously my accurate shooting has been with normal 22's on rabbits, with range being limited by my skill.
Big calibre has never involved much accuracy as I hunt in very heavy bush, shooting let alone seeing beyond 50 yards is not common, my last deer was at about 20 yards.

So because of the 223 I've become obsessed with consistency, to date I've shoot about 300 rounds at the range but only shot a dozen animals.

The Holy Grail seems to be 1 inch groups at 100 yards, well I'm achieving this and am confident about having a crack at goats out at 300 yards.

My current thought is because the 223 has a stainless barrel I'm not cleaning it as thoroughly as normal and a good smear of copper helps.
As for the first couple of rounds being off, I'm retaining my inherent habit of putting the first shot into the ground "To clear her throat".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rbp75503

If you are interested in additional info regarding cold bore shots, the following vid is very useful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewPWplWu6ZQ

There is considerable discussion on the different shooting forums about the use of colloidal graphite, i.e. Lock-Ease. Most of the discussion is around barrel break-in. However I have found that a saturated patch down the barrel after cleaning has settled down my clean bore shot. Lock-Ease's carrier will evaporate leaving only the graphite.

Bob

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ive played around with lock ease and the problem i found is that as the graphite burns out the pressures go up which increases velocities and my shots start to rise.
have you had this happen?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LongRange

ive played around with lock ease and the problem i found is that as the graphite burns out the pressures go up which increases velocities and my shots start to rise.
have you had this happen?

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My Lock-Ease experience has been with stainless steel barrels in 204 Ruger, 20 Practical, and 22 cal. I have not seen any walking of the groups nor increase in velocities while shooting at least 4 5 shot strings a range trip. Not saying it might not happen, but I haven't noticed it.

Couple of things noticed is that I have no copper build-up and clean bore takes less patches.

Thank you all again,
As I've previously commented, longer range shooting is new to me and I got all excited. I am gradually calming down and reverting to my old maxim "How dead is dead", translating to, so what if you can put holes on top of each other if your target is 6 inches across.
Though Lock-Ease is something I will investigate.

Stop cleaning your barrel.

I have a Savage 12 in 223 with target chamber and target accutrigger. I use Patch Out to clean. Not had a cold, clean bore flyer yet. My rim fires, though, are another story.